The Gazette 1977

APRIL 1977

GAZETTE

injunction even though it is not sought to protect a right. (4) That in the circumstances of the present case leave should be given to the plaintiff to join the Attorney- General as a defendant and to claim a declaration that notwithstanding his refusal to consent to relator proceedings the plaintiff was entitled (a) to proceed with his applications for declarations; and (b) pending the final determination of those applications, to obtain relief by way of interim injunction. (1977) 2 W.L.R. 310.

of the invaluable Current Law, has continued in more detail and with more concentration the learned work of his predecessor. Despite the fact that this edition has been published in two volumes, it in fact only contains 30 pages more than its predecessor, a remarkable achievement considering all the Statute Law that has been passed and the Case Law that has been adjudicated upon in the last eighteen years. As the Preface stresses, the years since 1959 have seen great and frenzied activity, and of late there has been a cataract of large complex Acts which seek to legislate in detail for every human activity. The whole structure of the Courts and of Local Government in England has been remodelled. There has been consolidation of Statutes relating inter alia to Juries, Income Tax, Friendly Societies, Building Societies, Town Planning, Insurance, Solicitors, Adoption and even Legitimacy. The magnitude of the task allotted to Mr. Burke can thus be appreciated, but he has overcome all difficulties with admirable clarity and precision. This is indeed the Dictionary of English Law, and it would be well nigh impossible to supersede it. We learn that the "Court of pie poudre" was one which determined disputes in markets and fairs, that a "Couthutlaugh" was a person who willingly received an outlaw and concealed him, that "eavesdroppers" were persons who stood under walls by night or day to hear news and to carry it to others to make strife, and that an "effractor" is a burglar. These few examples should induce members who wish to improve their legal vocabulary to consult these volumes frequently. Any time spent in perusing these volumes will be repaid a hundredfold by the knowledge acquired. There is also a very useful Bibliography at the end. The inevitable high price will preclude members from purchasing these volumes, but, as a reference volume, the knowledge they will instil will be of inestimable value. A philosopher once made a distinction between lies and statistics. Many politicians tend to rely unduly on statistics, particularly if they are favourable to their party. Those who do will find Mr. McGilvray's work of great assistance, particularly as he had already published Irish Economic Statistics, and is a statistician of international merit. Those who wish to wend their way through the statistical data of health, housing, education, social security, expenditure and the standard of living, and of survey methods in social research have been given invaluable guidance by Mr. McGilvray in this work. The learned author rightly points out that the most valuable source of information is the five-yearly census; it is unfortunate that the census due in May 1976 was cancelled as an economy measure. There follows a discussion relating to vital statistics of births and deaths. Each chapter is followed by detailed sources and references, and there is a good index at the end. The problem of housing is tackled from the point of view of analysis of houses: (i) by size, (ii) by nature of occupancy, and (iii) by type of dwelling. The various sources from which data relating to incomes, expenditure and the standard of living are culled are clearly set out. Mr. McGilvray's book will be of inestimable help to those who wish to study and analyse social statistics. McGILVRAY, James, Social Statistics in Ireland: a Guide to their Sources and Uses. Dublin: Institute of Public Administration, 1977, x, 204 p. £3.50.

Issuing Shares at a Premium 0Continued from page 67

quite possible that it did not. However, the Legislature, like the rest of us, does not always say what it means, and it is on the basis of what it says that we must proceed. It is not open to a Judge (or indeed anybody else) to hold the Legislature as saying what he feels it must have meant by a strained and totally artificial construction of what it actually said. It is submitted that Mr. Justice Harman was quite right in refusing to do so, although, it is submitted he should have been far more explicit as to the reasons for his refusal in this case. Some members of the accountancy profession have suggested that Section 56 (or Section 62) applies when the book entries relating to the transaction indicate that there is a premium. 22 It is submitted that this interpre- tation of the Section is wrong for the reasons advanced above. If it were correct, then the words "shares issued at a premium" in Section 56 (or Section 62) would not mean simply shares issued for a value over and above nominal value. It would mean the issue of shares for a value over and above nominal value and the making of the appropriate accounting entries. As already indicated there is no authority whatever for restricting the definition of premium in this way. 23 Therefore, the word premium in Section 62 of the Companies Act, 1963, must be taken to have its ordinary dictionary meaning. 22. See Gower (1969 ed.), p. 109, footnote 28. 23. The Jenkins Committee supports this view and recommended that it should be clearly stated (Cmnd 1749, paragraphs 161-166).

BOOK REVIEWS JOWITT (The late Earl): Dictionary of English Law. Second edition by John Burke, 2 vols., 1935 p. London: Sweet & Maxwell, 1977. £45.00. The first edition of this work was begun under the General Editorship of the late Earl Jowitt, a former Lord Chancellor, who approved the principles upon which it was compiled. As a result of the labours of the then Editor, Mr. Clifford Walsh, this compact encyclopaedia of law was published in 1959. Mr. John Burke, the Editor 70